Tales of a Engineer
by Skaidius
Summary: He knew ADVENT was too good to be true, a utopia, he pretended to believe but when his parents go missing he needs to find answers, meeting an old friend he finds a way to make a difference, how much will he change? (Discontinued)
1. Chapter 1

William Olson, he had no country to call his own, he was born in a boat, in an attempt his family had made to escape the aliens years ago. Their community in the ocean worked fairly well, always on the move, for several years they lived there drifting in the oceans of the planet, but that couldn't keep on forever their ship was one day detected and they had to run, a boat can't outrun a UFO, they were captured but they were not arrested, they were all treated well and integrated to the new world society. He was fifteen at the time; he had some friends in the boat and a teacher, Mister Oliver. He thought William several things, self defense, several languages and how to shot, the man was a soldier, he had to run as well, he always talked about the things he regretted not doing.

"I should have joined them, I was one of the world's finest I had the skill to defend the world and I didn't…and now they are dead."Oliver would tell him, he was in his sixties, had been in missions all over the world ad was a close friend of his family.

William visited Oliver whenever he could, but recently they had been busy, he had a lot of things in college, he had gotten in earlier, he was close to getting his degree in engineering, Oliver encouraged him to do that, he remembered a man he worked with in China years ago, the old engineer was a good friend of his but they lost contact years ago.

"Oliver, are you there?"William asked as he entered the house, the house had very little furniture, Oliver never really cared about it. As he entered he moved his had back catching Oliver fist close to his face, the old man smiled at him.

"You still train don't you?"He said as he retracted his fist.

"You taught me to train even if I am not a soldier; it also helps me to relax."William smiled back. The training was similar to the one Oliver had in the army.

"I heard you are graduating soon."Oliver sat in the simple table in the kitchen.

"Yes, I came here to give you something back."William picked up a box he had in his bag.

Oliver looked at the box, as he opened he saw his old revolver a Taurus cal 38, and even had ammo. That gun had sentimental value to Oliver, an old friend of his had given it to him, it stopped working years ago, and he didn't remember giving it to William.

"Not that I'm not grateful but when did you take it?"Oliver asked.

"Last time I was here, I learned to shot with that gun, I have fond memories of it, I am sure you do too, it took me a few weeks but I did it."William cared for the old man; he was always there for him.

"So how are Otto and Cassie, I haven't seen them this year."Oliver took the gun and hid it in the wall, firearms were outlawed but people still rob others at gun point.

"They are doing the treatment, the doctors said it will take some time to heal them, I tried to tell them not to but they still went to the clinic…I am worried Oliver, ADVENT is too good to be true." William hadn't heard of his parents for weeks.

"Oh, that is not good…"Oliver became silent for a moment.

"What is your idea?"William asked as he recognized the look is friend had.

Oliver stood up and went to his room; he returned with a small radio set, it looked like it had gone through hell.

"I found this in abandoned building weeks ago, can you fix it?"Oliver was serious.

"Sure, but why?"William took the radio and looked around it; he then found an insignia in it.

"I always thought they had been destroyed but they live, X-COM lives."Oliver said as he looked at the radio.

Over the next half hour William slowly repaired the radio, when he was done Oliver turned it on and started looking for the signal, eventually he found it.

"…r…b…n…d…"They started hearing pieces of words soon they could hear clearly. They heard the transmitting and as they heard the order to begin.

"What do you think they are doing?" Oliver asked.

"Today is a holiday, it is the twentieth unification day, and they must be attacking somewhere."William then turned the TV on, there was an attack to a gene clinic, his parent's had gone there but they were taken to another bigger clinic somewhere. Oliver and William knew things were going to change…

* * *

 **07/02/2035**

Two days after the attack William went to Oliver's house again, he entered as he always did; he had some free time today, so he could visit the…

William ducked as he noticed something in his periferical vision, at first he thought it was Oliver but it was someone else, the man had a pale skin, black hair and had a machine gun, he had tried to use to hit him. He grabbed the man's weapon and pulled as he kicked his legs under it, the man fell to the floor and William aimed at him with the rifle and asked.

"Where is Oliver?"William asked.

"No need to do that Will."Oliver said as he entered the room.

The pale man looked angry at William, mostly because of his wounded pride; he had just got taken down by a civilian.

"Oliver, what is going on?"William asked.

"I contacted him trough the radio, he is from the new X-COM."Oliver said making the man's eyes widen.

"You can't just tell everyone who I am; are you crazy?"The pale man said.

"I have been a military longer than you have been alive kid; William here is the one I was talking you about."Oliver said.

"The new X-COM…you attacked the clinic right?"William lowered the gun.

"Yes we did."The pale man said.

"Where are the patients taken?"He asked.

"We still don't know."The man said.

William began thinking; he put the gun in a table and sat down, should he do it? Should he join them? He wanted to help his parents and he always heard of Oliver's regret not joining…

"You got me ready to be recruited didn't you?"William looked at Oliver.

"You and me both, I knew you would eventually look for them, I wanted to help as well."Oliver had a grin in his face.

William looked at the old man and the pale man; he then let out a sigh.

"Fine, I will give up my degree and go then."He said surprising the pale man.

"Degree?"He asked.

"Yes William here is becoming an engineer; he would be finishing the course soon."Oliver said.

"Oh, if you join then you could probably be of help to Shen as well."The pale man said.

"He is still alive?"Oliver asked surprised.

"No, but his daughter has taken his place, you really met him? I thought you didn't join them."The pale man said Oliver then started telling his life story with the other man.

William wanted to know what had happened to his parents, where they were and he would do anything to find out.

* * *

 **09/02/2035**

Having a sack in your head as you are taken somewhere you don't know is not the way one expects to spend a Friday night, William had to get some things before coming books some photos things he would use. When he arrived he was informed that the place was the resistance HQ, it was a big place, in the middle of nowhere. He saw people with old projectile weapons, he wondered where they came from, soon he was called, he entered a small room, Oliver and a man were there.

"Hey William, there is a test you have to do to enter you know, and some training too."Oliver told him, he was tested in everything, reflexes, strength, aim, and also his expertise with technology helped him with hacking, he was better than the average civilian but far away from being a soldier.

"Over the next month you will be trained, if you survive your fist mission for us you will be in the pool X-COM will choose from, but you might go there as an assistant to the engineers, there are a few here if you want to get some experience go help them."The man said as he signed things in his tabled.

"Nothing in life is easy kid, but it still is easier than it was before, only elite soldiers were allowed."Oliver said; he was one of the new teachers, he was happy with that.

William's room was small he had four roommates, the youngest was thirty five, so they didn't have much to talk about.

* * *

 **20/02/2035**

Things are very alive around here, three days ago we got some equipment, the fist engineer that tried to use it well… he doesn't have a intact hand anymore, I worked with the others to figure out how to not let it happen, we did it and now we are trying to figure out how to make them ourselves, it will take some time.

"Still have your hands I see."Oliver remarked as William reached the shooting range.

"I am good with them you know; I can build a weapon and fire it."William responded as he grabbed his rifle. His aim was getting back to what it was, slowly but it was.

"Hey when do we get our mag guns?"A wall of flesh asked, he had a thick accent from somewhere William didn't know.

"I don't know, but maybe in a month or two."He shot at the target.

The people you could find in the base were mostly soldiers; most of them were not right with the head and some of the scientists too, he had gotten used to it so far, the first week was painful, very painful.

"Good, I see your aim is improving."The giant said,

"Yes, are you in the pool already?"William asked the man, he was an old soldier and had far more experience than he had.

"I actually got picked up already."The man smiled as he told that.

"That is great; I always figure you would be picked as soon as you got in it."William didn't know the man's name but they had bumped into each other while they trained.

When the night arrived William couldn't do anything other than read a book, in the alien language, there were very few people trying to learn it for some reason, when he asked someone why they didn't want to they said they wanted nothing to do with them. He believed the more he knew about them the better.

"You do know they might be able to mid control you right?"A woman said; she was a sniper in her forties she was his roommate.

"Yes but they can't do that with a book. Its Psionics not magic, besides from what I heard the guys in the biology lab got a dead sectoid to work with, they know what they can do and cannot do."William asked the head biologist himself, he was worried and got far more information about the alien's rigor mortis than he wanted to.

"I faced the old ones you know, I was in the military and I even shot them, I remember the feeling, when they tried to mind control me."The women said.

All of his roommates had experience fighting the aliens, the most he had was seeing a viper when he was a teen, and she was patrolling a station.

"I had a classmate that talked to a viper once."He blurted out.

"Is he insane?"The women said.

"No, he said he was lost, he was almost fluent in their language but he said it was disturbing, the way she speak was to mechanical, he tried to talk to her again and again and she seemed to get less mechanical, she told him nothing but he counted her as a friend of sorts."William remembered how his friend talked about the viper and how he had become friends with her."She disappeared after some time and was replaced, my friend was told not to interact with them because he could be distracting them, and he blamed himself about that."

"Really, that is weird, why would he act like that towards a viper?"The women asked.

"He became my friend long after that, he said he had no friends at the time, he had heard the aliens would shot you if you bothered them, he said he spend months with her, he called her Martha."William the thought back to what his friend had said.

"The elders are the ones that invaded, the others are just slaves."He said out loud.

"Still don't like them."The woman said after she shrugged.

* * *

 **I wrote this chapter a long time ago, I already have other three ready and I am planning on updating weekly, I hope you like it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**03/03/2035**

It seems plasma weapons are really more powerful…

"Come on people move!"A voice shouter, but I could barely hear it over my ringing ears.

And it is not a good idea to store elerium close to them either…

"Hey you alright?"A voice asked me.

"I AM OKAY, GO LOOK FOR THE OTHERS."I said in a moderate tone of voice.

I hope the others are alright.

 **04/03/2035**

"Three deaths and four injured…"I said as I looked towards the ceiling in my room in the medical ward.

"Well you are okay; I mean I thought you were dead when I heard the bang."Alessandra said; she is a good roommate, I learned her name after she visited me for the first time, this was her second visit, she had to get lunch.

"I blame the guy that piled elerium batteries close to it."I had been hit by shrapnel and nothing else, I was mostly fine.

"You are not going to turn into an alien because of the things that they pulled out of you are you?"She asked as she ate he lunch.

"No, exposition to elerium doesn't do that and besides they removed all of it, you know I have books you could read to know those things."She believes in strange things.

"You can't teach old dog new tricks Will."She said looking away.

"You are not old enough to say that."I told her.

"When will I be then?"She asked; I had to measure my words carefully.

"When your brain no longer retains information, otherwise it is whining."I believed that; if you have a working brain you can learn; it doesn't matter if you call yourself dumb, I should follow what I preach…

"Maybe, but tell me how long until the mags?"She changed the subject.

"I don't know; the people from the Avenger took over the research, as far as we know they have them already."They said it was safer for us not to have them for a while; ADVENT was targeting any human that had them.

"I hope they pick me soon, I have been waiting for a long time."She looked at the void; she wanted to join the original X-COM years ago, but they weren't being helped by the governments at the time so she had no way of getting called.

"You will be called soon, they were laying low for a while; ADVENT has been more active recently, from what we could get from their data they are employing better troops on the field, and the causalities on our side are increasing as their efficiency increases."Knowing their language made me a jack of all trades on the base, they called me to translate reports they got from hacking and things like that, and I was also learning a bit more about hacking myself.

"Things are getting bad then."She was sad now…

"Things get bad before they get better, or so they say, we adapt to whatever they throw at us don't worry."We adapted before, we can adapt again.

She smiled and nodded.

 **06/03/2035**

I got out of the place and when I got to my room Alessandra was leaving, she was 'donated' along some supplies to the Avenger for rescuing a VIP.

"Told you, you would get there soon."I said as I saw her packing from the doorway.

"Yes you did, I will try to write."She said as she smiled.

I was surprised when she hugged me, when she let go she said.

"I hope to see you there soon."And with that she left.

Things moved quickly after that, training, studying, reading, translating, coffee, sleep, things like that.

 **10/03/2035**

Most scientists gave up on the magnetic guns, I had a few parks I tinkered with for curiosity's sake; I didn't expect to discover how to make it.

"We will relay this information to the Avenger soon, congratulations William; you did us a great service."The base commander said she was old; she was a general in the times of the war.

"I heard you will start production as soon as the people in the avenger give us a green light."I said.

"Yes, you discovered the principles necessary to make them but they will make the design, we believe they will call you soon."She said.

"I hope I can help."Was all I could say.

When I left I saw Oliver there waiting for me with a big smile on his face.

"So what do we have for today?"I asked expecting heavy training.

At the end of said training I could only say.

"I hate you."I stared at the ground I was laying on.

The muscles in my body wanted to curl up and die but since that wasn't possible they just flared painfully.

 **14/03/2035**

There is an attack close; the X-COM is on the other side of the American Continent right now so we are going in, me and some of the more experienced soldiers, I am a rookie to their eyes we all are but I have a magnetic magnum so I am amazing.

When we arrived by helicopter we could see the settlement burning, griping my machinegun I waited of the captain to order us, we walked forward. I noticed the captain wasn't very reliable, he ran when the civilian he approached became a two and a half meters tall pale behemoth; I on the other hand just screamed in a very manly fashion and shot it.

It was not enough it seems, the albino thing that used to be a beautiful dark skinned woman threw me in a house, where I hit a nearly dead sectoid, I punched it and grabbed my magnum since I had dropped the rifle and shot it after I struggled to rest the purple mist that attacked me, the thing is strong even when wounded.

"Crap where is everyone else?"I asked as I looked around; dead body's o civilians and aliens were around but the people I came here with were nowhere to be seen.

I leveled the gun as I walked toward my busted rifle, I looked around and I heard gun fire, when I arrived there I found the white thing lifting one of the soldiers up and I shot it in the head, it fell down and didn't get up this time.

"You alright?"I asked the women.

She was shaking and crying, panic; I looked around and saw no one else so I just hugged her to make her feel safe, they say it helps.

"Where are the others?"She asked.

"I don't know; I was cut off because of that thing."I pointed at the thing.

"I think they are hiding."She said as she looked around; it was likely, they were rookies and that thing was disturbing.

"Let's see if there is anyone left here."I told her and we soon walked into the small village.

When we saw the ADVENT airship we searched for cover, I told her to go after me, I searched the ship and it had one pilot and a few prisoners, I shot the pilot in the head and then I poked around the transport, I disable the communication it had and the locks I could find, and then I stumbled into a useful thing, a locator for their forces, there were several lights out so they lost some soldiers, there were a few coming here right now…

"Give me your grenade now."I told her as I left the aircraft, using a string I made a trap; the patrol of five was without the Officer, they didn't feel a thing when they activated the two grenades, I looked back in the ship and there were, still about ten alive, no nine one of them died, I could hear the gunfire.

"Let's go, people I will close the door so you are safe, they can't activate it remotely so you are in a armored vehicle, best place to be."I called the other soldier and told the people inside, I pressed the button and the door closed.

We found three others fighting two white giants, an Officer and four troopers, I took the shot at the Officer and told the other one to do the same, it was already wounded so it went down. The giants charged towards us and the troopers shared fire between us and the other three, focusing fire on the giants we were able to take them down, a grenade killed the troopers that thought they could hide too close to each other.

"So where is our captain?"I asked.

"Wait you are not the captain?"One of them asked.

"No he ran away, I just screamed as I was thrown in a house."I understood his decision.

The five of us walked back to the aircraft, there were the five other enemies trying to open it, five troopers.

"Did they lock themselves outside that thing?"One of them snickered.

"No I locked it, just shoot them."They looked at me and then they shot the remaining soldiers, without any causalities we were able to clear the area, I freed the civilians and I started messing with the transport, I looked for tracking devices and found two after I broke them and continued to disconnect it from the ADVENT network, they put a lot of things there to make sure no one stole it.

"Is it safe to use that, one of the helicopters was shot during the firefight."One of the soldiers asked me.

"Yes it is, I unlocked the system and removed everything they could use to track us, so we can use it."I told him."Did we find the precious captain?"

"Unfortunately yes, he was hiding in a house, panic attack."He let out a sigh.

"Why was he in charge?"I asked the same thing the others also thought.

"Apparently he used to be a gang leader so they thought he could lead us."The guy was obviously a veteran, he knew it wouldn't work."They brought a punk to lead us; I guess I should have volunteered to command this mission."

"Alright, you can ask them to get in, we don't have many seats but we could lift a loaded truck with this."I told him.

 **15/03/2035**

The day after we had lost half a squad and the captain was now back in basic training.

"You never cease to amaze us do you?"The HQ commander said.

"I do my best sir."I said in the front of everyone, I was getting promoted, so were the other three that helped me.

"Well we then grant you the rank of Squaddie and the class you are assigned is Specialist."She gave me a ceremonial medal and moved on to the other soldier. The medal I had was the one they had for Specialists, it was a metal gremlin, and the others were assigned as two snipers and two rangers.

I returned to my quarters and Oliver was there on the way to give me a high five, he is very old.

 **21/03/2035**

The training was interesting, my knowledge of the alien language paid off, like English it was the base of their programming.

The transport was being studied to improve what we could on our own vehicles and X-COM was going forward, Alessandra wrote a letter, she was in the medical bay she had taken down seven troopers, I had taken my own share of them, and she had heard about me discovering how to make the mag weapons they were now using.

"Hey William."Oliver said as he arrived."You did it."

I immediately understood what happened, they called me.

"Shen's daughter called you in, she wants someone helping around, they had only three other engineers there, and two scientists."He said smiling; and he also gave me something."This is a thing her father gave me, give it to her okay."He handed me a watch.

"I will anything else?"I asked him as I tried not to think how awkward that talk would be.

"Don't die in your fist mission."He said.

"I already survived my first mission, see this I am very capable."I pointed towards my gremlin.

"Alright, alright but still, I want you to live long enough to see this world be free."He smiled as he pat me on the back, I began packing that day, I had a lot of things to do.

* * *

 **It's a holiday today on Brazil, on this day (21) about 225 years ago Tiradentes, a dentist was killed by the Portuguese crown, he was part of a separatist conspiracy in one of the states of Brazil against the crown, he was hanged, and then his body was torn apart, his head was put on a pole, the rest of his body was distributed around the areas where he would have gatherings and his house was destroyed and the soil in which it stood was salted so nothing would grow there ever again…yeah…so I decided to post this chapter, enjoy.**

 **Oh and I finally was able to finish a campaign in X-COM2, the chills in the final scene.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you for the review Yorkmanic88, I will avoid the unnecessary dates, I was always thinking if it looked weird but I wanted to keep track of the time.**

* * *

My first day started early, I arrived in the morning unpacked and immediately was directed to work, Lily was very strict, I had planned to give her the watch later, after some time working with the others making more rifles I noticed they had several improvements over what I first made, I already figured out ways to improve my own magnum, which it's conventional version was usually was used by the Sharpshooters, snipers, my magnum was unique.

"You were the guy that finished working it right?"One of them asked.

"Yes, I was messing around and I managed to make one, I outfitted a magnum with it and even used it in a mission."I said making them look weirdly at me.

"You have been at a mission?"They asked.

"Yes, Advent attacked a settlement close to my base and you guys were away so we send ten rookies, only me and other five survived."I told them.

They pressed me to tell them what happened and I even showed them my medal, they were amazed that I saw action.

"Figures you would be a Specialist."One of them said as I showed them the medal.

"Look at that, you finished it already."Lily said as she entered the workshop.

"Yes the magnetic rifles and pistols are done."Simple thing when you know what to do, I wonder how long until we finish the research in making the other models, we still use conventional weapons to some other classes.

By the end of the day we were finished there, I took the opportunity to give Lily the watch.

"A friend of mine said your father gave him this watch years ago, and he wanted me to give it to you."I said; I spent a good time figuring out what I would say; things could go bad very fast if I said the wrong words.

She was surprised but took the watch, she looked around and saw the initials of her father, she thanked me and send me off, I walked away into the quarters, I then noticed something in the corner of my eye before I was tackled.

"You are here!"Alessandra said as she hugged me, she is in her late forties but she is probably more fit than I am, and far more energetic, I hope I one day can be like that.

"I am, but I am an engineer, I won't be going on missions yet."I told her as I got up.

"Still it is nice to have you here, so where are the mags I want a badass rifle."She asked me again, she always asks that.

"We are still working on it but I made several mag rifles and pistols today, you will be receiving one soon."She squealed adorably at that, she is weird in a good way.

"Well I have to get up early tomorrow so I will be seeing you later."I told her she hugged me and left, I missed her back in the base.

* * *

After a week I had already a routine, working, working, hanging out with Alessandra, coffee, maybe sleep and repeat. But today we were brought a elerium core, we were trying to figure out a way to use it, we decided to use it to make a special type of ammunition, it can set the aliens on fire, most of the time, however we can only make enough for one person at a time, so we gave it to one of the best Sharpshooters we had, Alessandra of course, I still can't feel my sides, the hug could crush a damn muton.

I was watching the mission through a gremlin feed that was transmitted by the Specialist in the field; the sectoid was on fire so it couldn't focus very well, the ranger took care of it.

"We did it again; we are the heroes they forget."One of the other engineers said making us all nod.

"You did well, but we still have to work, move on people."Lily appeared in the doorway already ordering us; we worked hearing the mission play out, no causalities.

Things were good, very good.

* * *

We finally finished the magnetic sniper rifles, my sides were once again numb, and the nerves must have died for real this time, besides a little incident with an ADVENT turret that wasn't quite deactivated we were all okay.

"They captured an ADVENT scientist yesterday."James said, he was one of the engineers we had; he was actually a mechanic that was really good at what he did.

"Really? I thought they hand them over to the HQ."I said surprised.

"They seemed to want to try some form of mind probe the scientist made using an old artifact found in a downed UFO, it was a big silver ball with a stick so they could use it safely."What?

"I can think in several ways that can go wrong."I said, some of the people in here aren't right in the head, in a bad way.

"It was hard enough to convince Tygan not to capture aliens, and he uses a device we have a barely coherent translation of the closest thing we have to an instruction manual."She said what made me ponder.

"Can I have a look at it?"I asked, she shrugged and pulled the file.

I looked at the files.

"It is a mind probe, it creates an artificial mind link, they used to use them but they stopped because if the creature has more…will…than you he can reverse the link and read your mind instead, or fry your brain, it can do that if used in the wrong way."I said after five minutes trying to translate the thing, Lily ran to the lab to stop them after that.

"You know how to speak their language?"Jesse asked me.

"I learned a bit with a friend and with books in the HQ."I told them, they canceled the use of the probe until they were sure they could use it without risk.

"Good thing you knew, some of them throw caution out of the window."She said.

"Yeah I know, once in the HQ one scientist left several elerium power cells close to a plasma rifle he was working on, it probably overloaded and it would just burn him a bit but the power cells exploded, he and other two died and I wound up in the medical ward of the HQ."I remembered the whole thing, I was shaken for a while but the therapy helped.

"I heard about that, people then put more strict procedures after that."She asked as she worked on the rifle she was fixing.

"It was for the best."I said as I continued to fix a gremlin that met the wrong end of an alien fist.

After some time I went to the storage, things were fine until I heard a low moan."I looked over and saw one of the boxes moving, they usually keep alien bodies in it, I notice a pounding and grabbed a crowbar, the door opened and a scaly hand shaking grabbed the side of it and a viper rose from it, she had no weapon, and was bleeding so I wasn't really afraid.

I watched it trying to get up and failing, it was kind of sad. She fell down and I then went to its side.

" _Hello_ " I said in the alien language they usually speak.

" _Where are they, I can't hear they anymore._ "She said weakly.

" _This place is isolated; there is no way to communicate here._ "I told her she didn't try to attack, not that it was possible.

" _I thought humans hated us._ "She said, she expected to die there I could tell.

" _Most do, I have a certain dislike for aliens but I know your species seem to be more independent than the others._ "I remember what my old friend told me years ago.

She rolled over, her wounds were healing, she had no weapons nor did she have any equipment. I could always help her.

" _Are you willing to give us information in order to stay alive?_ "I asked.

" _Yes._ "Now I just have to get someone on my side.

* * *

"And she is willing to provide information?"Tygan was amazed by that.

"Yeah living is a pretty good incentive, besides vipers seem to be friendlier, I had a friend that befriended one once."He beamed at that.

"Yes I had a few friends among them when I worked for ADVENT; if we are to proceed we must remove the chips in her."He said.

* * *

The commander was most forthcoming to the Intel we could get from the viper, but since there was no alien isolation chamber they decided she should be placed in a room far away from the rest of them, I live in the room adjacent to her's, I volunteered because I thought it was safer for me to be near her, I still had my gun.

I opened my door and immediately two huge green eyes hit my face.

"Is there a reason you are staring at me like that?"I asked her.

"I am checking if you are getting mind controlled."She looked at me.

"Vipers don't have psionic units, besides she can barely walk, and the commander approved."I told her, then looked to the door next to me opening, Alessandra jumped as the viper looked out.

" _Hello, feeling better?_ "I said making Alessandra stare at me then at her several times.

" _Yes…_ "She said mechanically, just like Kurt said a long time ago.

" _Did they remove the chip?_ "I asked.

" _Yes…_ "She will warm up eventually, maybe I should call Kurt, he knows how to do this.

She then entered her room again; Alessandra was staring at my eyes again.

"I am trying to make small talk, treating her like a monster will…alienate her away from us, it is better to integrate her."I told Alessandra.

"You sure about that?"She said.

"Listen when the war ends and the elders are dead we will rebuild this world, and we can either allow the aliens to join us or we can stay divided and be conquered by the next alien overlord we find."I talked to Kurt about that for some time, we spend a long time on our discussions.

She went silent, she didn't think about it she said goodbye and then left.

"Very few seem to think about that."Tygan said making me jump."I am sorry I didn't mean to scare you."

"It fine Doctor, the friend I told you about and I talked about it for days, when they fall we will have to band together, it is a big universe, there might be several others like the elders."A scary thought.

"Yes, they keep the knowledge of other alien civilizations secret, I believe there might be others, and we should try to remove their leaders and keep their infrastructure."There are several factories on Earth; some of them produce vehicles, including spaceships.

"That is something we should get."I said of hand.

* * *

The commander ordered a new mission, proposed by Tygan, we would go to a factory of ships, it was under repairs due to an accident and the production was stopped, there are several ships there, some of them are also free for taking, and I am on the group to get it.

I was checking my gear and loading everything, I told the viper I was leaving and asked her if she had any tips in how to pilot the ship. She was surprisingly helpful, she told me the basics and I thanked her and left, I don't think she ever heard that, she smiled a bit.

"So we are babysitting one of the eggheads?"One of the new soldiers that they rescued asked.

"The egghead outrank you rookie."I told him flashing my medal; he scoffed.

"Hey Will, so we are going to steal a ship?"Alessandra asked.

"At least one, I got some instructions on how to pilot the ships and I will tell you on the way, I just have to disable the tracking devices and the links to the network the ship has, after that we can park them in the Avenger and leave."I told them

They smiled and got in the ship, the five of us were leaving, and we are going to get some new things.


	4. Chapter 4

After hours we finally arrived at the place, it was mostly underground but it had train tracks that would bring in several materials and components.

"Where did you get that?"Asked one of the soldiers as he looked my magnum.

"He made it; he cracked the basics of how to make the mags."Alessandra said.

Some were impressed, some were not but I didn't care, the gun worked and-

Alien speech alerted us to our proximity to the entrance, there was a big building, a cargo elevator, but what we wanted was the acess hatch close to it. One of the soldiers grabbed a handful of snow and threw it very far; the troopers went towards the sound.

"They aren't really bright are they?"A rookie said.

We silently walked towards the hatch and one by one we entered, the team had three soldiers and two engineers and me the specialist, I sent the gremlin looking for cameras, there were very few of them and the camera system was human made, and about thirty years old so it was easy to make the cameras freeze while we walked in.

The place was strange there were building mechs charging, and there were several small ships, but the one thing we were amazed by was the ship they were building, it was halfway done but it was three times bigger, had big guns and probably couldn't fit in the Avenger, it also wasn't round, it was like a small battleship.

We divided in three groups, Alessandra and I went towards the ship under construction I immediately connected with the ship's computer, it wasn't connected with the network as that wasn't installed yet, it could fly, and fast, and it had access to some of the mechs, I had a idea. The mechs were almost charged and soon would be activated, there were pre-programmed tasks they would do repairing the base but I was going to delete them and set it to build more of the ship minus certain systems and load it with some things.

"Are you sure about that?"Alessandra asked me.

"I am positive this will work."I told her.

"What if it explodes?"She asked.

"That is why I will tell the mechs to finish some systems first, besides don't you remember I have done this before, kind of."I told her; before she could respond the radio came to life.

"How do I deactivate the tracking device?"Asked one of the engineers.

"There are usually more than one but they are very close to each other, the small troop transport usually have five, they always have spare systems so check all over the ship for it, don't deactivate it, remove it and cut the wires connected to it, otherwise they might come back online."The troop transport had that in order to find anyone that stole one of them.

"The mechs are activating."A soldier said panicking.

"They are repairing the base, we arrived while they recharged, they are not made for battle, if they approach the big ship don't shot them they are finishing the other systems."I said over the radio.

"Why?"One of them asked.

"Because a big ship with space guns and a lot of elerium is a good thing for us."I said; I had already removed some systems that were already built, and also had seen if there was anything they would do in the bridge, where I was with Alessandra.

One hour later a human appeared.

He walked towards the mechs in my ship and asked why they were working on the ship, they of course said it was what they were programmed to do, he entered the ship, when he entered the cockpit I punched him and he went down.

"He is the manager of this place."I said as I looked over his card.

I gave the card to the gremlin and sent it to look for a terminal, it went to one of the computers and interfaced with it, and I didn't have to hack it because I had the card then I downloaded the schematics and some other information I had access to.

When the gremlin arrived I smiled and radioed others.

"I am nearly finished her, and I also got some extras too how are things on your end?"I asked them.

"Most trackers were removed, almost done here."Said one of them.

"All of them were removed here, and we are close to a storage unit and are loading some supplies."The other one said

"Alright we will be leaving in about one hour then, in half an hour the mechs will grab supplies, don't be seen."I said as I and Alessandra waited.

Forty minutes later troopers and combat mechs entered the hangar.

"We are leaving."I said as I commanded the Mechs to attack the troopers and started the ship; it didn't explode.

"I will make an exit wait a minute."I said as I fired one of the plasma beams and it cut one of the doors off and the two smaller ships left, I waited for a big enough opening to be created and loaded the surviving mechs in my ship, I flew out of the shipyard and celebrated, I just got a space ship.

* * *

The smaller ships were landed on the ship, they were being studied by every scientist on the ship, but the bigger one was sent to the resistance HQ. A few tears were involved in the departure.

"You were successful then?"The viper asked.

"Yes, I got a big ship."I told her.

"Yes it was like three times the size of the normal ones."Alessandra said; she was getting used to the viper, and the viper was also getting used to talking to people.

"I overheard the plans for a ship capable of interstellar travel; I heard it would take some time for it to be finished."She said.

"The guy we captured confirmed that, besides we got the schematics for the ships and UFO's."That would help us a lot; having the ships gave us a chance of fighting back if we needed to defend ourselves from UFO's.

"So…when plasma?"Alessandra asked with a huge smile on her face.

"After we get decent armor, a plasma weapon is useless if you die the moment you hit the ground."The commander wanted to decrease the risk of death in the operations, so he told us to work on armor.

"Come on I didn't get Brolly and I will have to wait for plasma."She said.

"Yes, but if you really want a better weapon I can give you my magnum."I offered.

"Deal."She said.

* * *

I was working on the repair of the weapons; some soldiers seem to not be very bright, how did he get mud inside the sealed chamber?

"Hey William can you come here for a second."Shen asked.

"Sure what do you need?"I asked.

"The HQ sent us this file and everyone else that knows the alien language is busy so translate it for me."She said as she handed me a tablet.

"Hmm something honorifics, scouting results, signs of a resistance, lost colony…"I looked over, the language was very technical.

"Wow you linguistic abilities are amazing."Shen said.

"Still better than yours, otherwise you would have translated it by yourself, this is the results of a scouting mission, and they said they encountered a lost colony with potential."I told her.

"What kind of potential?"She asked.

"It doesn't say; it must be something the receiver would know, where does this come from?"I had only text.

"There is more information; it showed an earth like planet, and signs of civilization."She said.

Planet, life, lost colony, resistance.

"Does it say what species it is?"I asked.

"It shows something like a viper, I thought it would be a planet of theirs but from what you said to me it might be another planet they are planning on going."She said as she took her tablet back.

"So the civilization on that planet might be natural vipers, without genetic modifications."I said.

"And they might be more advanced, they said something about resistance, they might be allies to us."She said.

"Do you want me to get Tygan?"I asked.

"Yes meet me in the bridge; we will report it to the Commander."She said.

* * *

"You want to mount an expedition to an alien planet, potentially filled with vipers?"Asked Bradford as he looked at us.

Shen could have put it in a way it didn't look like a suicide mission.

"We believe this is the reason they started building shipyards on Earth, if they want to go to that planet it might be a threat to them." Tygan said.

I noticed they wouldn't want to risk a ship on that, so I tried to think of something, in the middle of an argument I blurted out.

"Satellites."They looked at me like I was insane.

"Before we leave the planet we could place communication satellites, and create our own network, that way even if the expedition fails you will get something out of it."I said knowing the big ship had a stealth system.

"We could do that; with solar panels and a cloaking generator from the big ship we can make invisible satellites."Shen said as she nodded.

The commander looked pleased, he told us he appreciated our plan but it wouldn't be done so soon, maybe in the future. We obeyed, he was the commander.

* * *

Alessandra was in the medical ward, again.

"Aren't snipers supposed to stay far away and, you know snipe?"I asked her.

"Indeed, I was under the impressions snipers wouldn't charge in the front lines."Viper agreed.

"Everyone is a critic, but I still managed to do something amazing."She said.

"Blowing up your sniper rifle shooting a mech point blank is not amazing for the person that will have to make you a new one."I wouldn't be able to fix that one.

"It was impressive but foolish."The viper said with wisdom, she had changed a lot; she sounded more human and was helping around the Avenger. She speaks in a very formal tone for some reason.

"Can you make a few modifications to my rifle?"Alessandra asked.

"I could, depends of what you want."I told her.

"A bayo-"Nope

"No blades on your gun, it is a gun not a sword or axe."I told her.

"But what if I run out of ammo? Or have to charge them head on?"She asked.

…

"Fine, stop looking at me like that, I will put a retractable blade."I told her.

The viper laughed at that, she would occasionally watch movies with us or read books, she is nice.

I still couldn't believe I got used to a life like this.

* * *

"Why are you putting a blade in a sniper rifle?"Shen asked.

"It's Alessandra, she asked for one for when she runs out of ammo or needs to charge something again."I said as I checked the blade.

"That is a good idea."Shen said.

I regretted saying that because I made her get the idea of putting blades on all the weapons, it did increase the efficiency of the operations but still, extra work.

* * *

How did I get myself on this situation?

Alessandra, the viper and I were watching movies on my room, we were having fun with the movie, super hero movie, it was cold today, we were flying in a cold region, and the energy was limited, too many rooms to power so the heating was minimal, just enough for us not to freeze and we were sitting on the couch, I blinked for one moment in my sleepy state and I woke up finding myself on the vipers coils, she was sleeping and so was Alessandra, she wasn't crushing me but she looked content.

"Hey Wi-"One of the scientists opened the door and looked into it.

"Hi, what do you need?"I asked after I notice his shock.

"Are you alright?"He asked worried.

"Yes, I am alright, do you need anything?"I asked trying not to sound embarrassed.

"Oh right..."He said as he explained his problem; I explained what he needed to do and he went on his merry way.

I can feel that this is going to come back to bite me in the ass.

Alessandra snored, she was hugging the Viper; how had I not noticed that before? I wish I had a camera but my gremlin is being fixed, it flew straight into a wall for some reason, I laughed silently seeing the battle hardened soldier hugging the viper.

* * *

 **I looked over and I think I got all the mistake but then again English is not my first language but I don't like to make mistakes like that, I have three chapters done already and will be uploading them over the next weeks but this month will be hard on college, lots of tests, assignments and presentations…I am very introvert and in a classroom with abut sixty people it is hard to speak in front of everyone.**


	5. Chapter 5

The probe is weird, I can feel their minds poking around but if I wanted I am pretty sure I could read their minds. The engineer talked about the viper hugging me, and someone overheard and told the story with a small change, and another did the same, and another, and another, and now I was being probed to see if I was being controlled by her, the last story they had I was filled with alien eggs or something, Alessandra said something about the Russians coming, I wonder what that is all about?

"He is not under their control from what I could see."A scientist said.

"Was all of this really necessary?"I asked.

They didn't answer.

* * *

I was finally let go, damn people and their gossip, people looked at me weird after that, don't regret it, it was kind of comfy.

"I can't believe they thought you were being mind controlled."Alessandra said.

"I seem to remember you thinking the same thing on multiple occasions."The viper said.

"That was before."Alessandra said.

"You are lucky they didn't see you."I said smirking.

"What are you talking about?"She asked.

"You hugged me after you sleep, I did the same for Will because…if felt nice."The viper said.

Alessandra blushed, the Viper blushed I laughed.

* * *

My arm still hurts, Alessandra is a heavy hitter, but work is good, we had a lot of resources, we have armor now, like ADVENT's, not the old armor that was bullet resistant.

"You will deliver this to the soldiers."I told the engineer that had spread the rumor.

He returned glaring at me, with a pained look and a hand on his back.

"Alessandra?"I asked.

He growled at me, revenge is a delicious dish.

* * *

A UFO is chasing us, the ship is trying to fly away, we could take it easily but we had more interesting plans, the Firestrom-1 was above the UFO, it 'docked' with the ship and a squad entered it, the squad was full of rangers and in the ship two specialists waited, they would hijack the ship.

Time went on, and the other ship released the UFO, it was a tense moment.

"We got our Firestorm-3."A specialist said, everybody on the ship cheered.

Things are looking up.

* * *

"This would be bad."I said as I looked at the EMP cannon, it was capable of turning the Avenger off, and that pillar as also very powerful, the Firestorms were modified alien UFO's, they had missile launchers, rail guns and plasma guns we avoided using, but this weapon was something else.

"Yes but with this we might be able to make something capable of damaging the mech units."Shen said.

We have three UFO's now, that is amazing, four ships in total, the ADVENT has way more than us but still, we can make multiple operations and the HQ started its own share of operations from the ship they call Phoenix, they were making strides when it comes to technology and resources.

"If we continue like this we might be able to fight them head on."I said.

"Yes, my father would have loved to see this."She said as she looked over the alien ship.

Father…

* * *

"Bradford, do you have any information on where the missing people are?"I asked.

"Not yet, but why are you asking me?"He didn't like me; he thought I took too many risks, he told them to probe me.

"My parents are missing, it is one of the reasons I joined; I want to know."I told him.

He looked at me, serious.

"We still don't know, but we are looking for information, as soon as it is found we will tell everyone."He told me.

* * *

I had just gotten to my room, I was tired, too tired.

Almost three months and I am not close to finding them, I looked over the picture of them and a tear fell down…

* * *

Another armor was made, to a rookie, he is an ass.

"I still think you guys should bomb them we have ships right?"He said.

So annoying, he has no idea what really is happening, he is about twenty two but has the mental age of a fifteen year old.

"I bet you guys can make some shit like an elerium nuke or whatever."He said. "Or you people are just a bunch of stupid mechanics that can't even screw something right."He said laughing.

"What do you know about elerium?"I asked.

"It is a crystal that make the aliens things work."He said.

"Yes, it is a very interesting material, what is its atomic number?"I asked.

"I don't know."He said

"Then be quiet."I told him.

"You think you can take me on?"He asked.

"I outrank you rookie, I don't need to take you on, I can order you around."I told him as I flashed my medal.

"How did someone like you get a promotion?"He asked.

"I work, I don't talk."I told him."The armor is ready get out of here."

When he left he glared at me, after he left everyone in there cheered.

"He won't last very long in there."One of the engineers said.

"He probably will charge a muton, he reminds me of the leader of my first mission, gang member, saw a faceless transform and ran, we lost half of the squad."I said.

They asked me to tell them the story, and I am pretty sure Shen was hearing it too.

* * *

The idiot got himself captured, after he got mind controlled and killed two other guys, people would be sad if he wasn't such an ass.

"He called me grandma."Alessandra complained; he shot her before they managed to evacuate with the VIP.

"I know, when I made his armor he wouldn't shut up about how we weren't doing enough, he wanted us to use nukes made out of elerium."I said scoffing.

"You can make nukes with elerium?"She asked.

"Yes, they would be more like plasma bombs, but still it would take a lot of elerium to make one besides the collateral damage would be enormous."I told her.

"So it is possible but not worth it?"She asked.

"Yep pretty much."I told her.

Silence.

"When plasma grenades?"She asked.

I let out a sigh.

* * *

I had worked until late in the workshop today, this skulljacker thing is complex.

But I didn't expect to find the viper and Alessandra sleeping in the couch, they were hugging each other again, after I snapped a picture, or two, or a dozen, then I turned off the TV.

I woke them up and Alessandra was the first to wake up, she froze as she noticed the alien arms around her, she untangled herself and left but the viper continued to sleep, I tried to wake her up but I wasn't able to so I just went to bed.

* * *

I woke up and saw the viper still sleeping, I tried to wake her up again and she did.

"How long have I been asleep?"She asked dizzy.

"Since last night, I found you and Alessandra sleeping here, but I wasn't able to wake you up."I told her.

"Oh I must have eaten too much."She said.

"What?"What?

"I discovered that when I eat too much solid food I sleep more, I ate a lot yesterday."She seemed to blush.

"How much?"I asked.

"Alessandra claimed I couldn't eat a watermelon, I did and fell asleep as we watched a movie."She said; I remembered the movie they were watching was about giant snakes.

Well that is good nightmare fuel.

"Okay then, I am leaving okay."I told her.

She nodded and left my room; I left soon after and went to the workshop.

When I got there Shen put me to work, they had gotten a turret, that thing was interesting.

"People we are going to work on this."She said as she showed was an armor, power armor, primitive but…

"Will you are to report to the armory you are going on a mission."Shen told me.

But, power armor…

* * *

Alessandra and I were walking, we were in a secret facility looking for answers, and we had a Firestorm ready to give us air support if needed.

The others were surrounding the place; we were planning on going in unnoticed getting information and getting out.

I climbed the building and looked at the facility; the monumental dark building looked like a factory.

"I will stay here go ahead."Alessandra said.

I went on my own, evaded enemy, and reached a train cart, I started it and it started going forward, distraction.

Some soldiers ran to it to stop the train and I used that moment to get in quietly, my gremlin recorded the place, it was horrible.

Bodies in green tubes, some were whole some seemed digested.

I heard orders and proceeded, walked around and I saw it, a golden vial, the liquid glowed.

I sent my gremlin and deactivated any alarms, there were no defenses in there, so I started downloading information, I could hear Tygan gasp, and so did Shen, they told me to grab the vial and I did, I was able to leave without any problem, we all meet close to the UFO and boarded it.

* * *

It is a refinery; they are basically melting people and getting them in the tube…

I was on my bed trying to sleep, but I couldn't.

I looked at the ceiling, why can't I do anything but think that I might have held my parents in a bottle.

* * *

I am not okay…

I have barely slept the last two days, but now I am on the field again.

Shooting, running, slamming.

I fired my gun again and again killing the trooper that tried to reach us, Alessandra was in another mission, the squad of five now has three, two specialists and a grenadier, we had used the jack on a officer, and that thing appeared, the ranger sliced it, it made a copy of itself, it disabled our weapons and used the chance to hit us hard, the ranger was the first one do die, he tried to slash a muton but he missed, the thing hit him so hard he cracked the wall when he hit it.

I was using my last magazine, I had a few bullets, the other specialist was being carried by the grenadier, I was covering us, and then the yellow creature appeared, its eyes cold and calculating, frozen.

I charged when the blade in my rifle hit it I shot, the body fade away but the skull and spine remained, I grabbed it and moved on, that was the last one, I would have gotten to the evac if the troopers hadn't shot at me, they missed but I had to hide, I was close to a body and noticed something, the magazine wasn't so different, I peeled the magazine out of the weapon and started reloading my weapon, I grabbed more ammunition and started shooting, I took down another trooper.

I ran to the evacuation area but I was too late, I could hear ADVENT coming and I had to run, I walked towards the body of a trooper and dragged it with me, I stripped it from what it had, dressed it with my armor and grabbed my grenade, I put it in his hand and pulled the pin and ran, I heard the explosion, hopefully it would fool them into thinking I committed suicide long enough for me to escape.

I hid under a piece of concrete for an hour, soldiers came in, came out, I got up and started walking, I had my gremlin hidden and when he came close I took my rifle apart, it had a modular design, so you could just assemble it, I hid some of them in a compartment it had made to store tools, I had to take them out with me, with only my clothes and the tools I had stashed, I walked around with the gremlin avoiding the cameras and I found a abandoned building, I got in and found somewhere to sleep, I remembered how dangerous the streets are and turned the gremlins light on, I took the pieces from my rifle and started to work with my tools, I would need a gun.

* * *

… **college is hard…I had this chapter written weeks ago, and after I polished it and got rid of all the mistakes I could find it will be uploaded.**


	6. Chapter 6

**11/05/2035**

I had a pistol that shot rifle rounds, it was hard to aim and the kick was strong but I could use it, and of course there was the blade, it could be removed and used as a knife.

I was walking in my normal clothes; with my "briefcase" I found the old thing in the building, inside there was the gremlin, codex brain and the gun, I had the knife hidden in my waist.

I walked around looking like your average civilian except I had an old worn out briefcase.

I avoided the ADVENT monitored areas and looked for a way out of the city, I entered an alleyway and I suddenly got the feeling that was a mistake.

"Hey give us the case."A man said, I looked over him he had a damn pocketknife; he was holding it up to me, he had two others with metal pipes.

Seriously I had dealt with this kind of thing before.

"Yeah, no that is not happening."I told him as I turned towards him.

He tried to stab me, like jumping at me with the right end of the knife pointed at me, I grabbed the arm with the knife and threw is balance off, I kicked his legs and threw him face first in the floor, I stepped back fast enough to dodge one of the others with a pipe, I hit him in the face, and turned swinging the case into his face, he fell down and then I punched the last guy, the guy in the floor was trying to get up but I dropped the case on his head and he stopped moving, they were all alive but they were not getting up anytime soon..

I walked out of the place with money and a pocketknife, I am happy with myself.

By the end of the day I had eaten and bought clothes, I was walking around on my way out of the city, good thing I ran back on the Avenger.

I was near to the city limits and had evaded all the ADVENT patrols; the day was reaching the end and I had a backpack, the briefcase was bringing too much attention, I looked like these kids that walk around the country, something some people still do. I had water with me and food, and still had some money, I looked over to the road and started walking; I had a long walk from here.

* * *

Two days later I was in the side of a road, there is a good amount of trees and from where I am hidden I can see the road.

I was recharging he batteries of my gremlin, solar power is awesome, the rifle was reassembled as I was on the road, and it is dangerous out here, I had been attacked by criminals some time ago, they had weapons, but they didn't know how to use them, two pistols from them, and money, and medicine, if things keep like this I will be fine. They also had electronic devices; I could use them to repair the gremlin if I needed.

As I walked on the road I saw a car in the distance, it had hit a three, I rushed there and found the driver unconscious, but he wasn't just a normal driver no, it was my old pal.

"Kurt, Kurt wake up."I shook his shoulder; his car was old and looked like it had went through hell, one of the first electric models from the beginning of the ADVENT occupation, he looked like he hadn't showered in days, he looked really bad.

I dragged him out of the car and to a tree, I sat there waiting for him to wake up, he wasn't injured. I looked over the car; I looked at his phone, his books and a journal I looked at him, he was still sleeping.

'03/11/2033 I am leaving home today, I can't live in this place, my parents went to the clinic and still didn't get back, it has been two weeks now, I am taking my car and some money, ever since I moved away I lost the few friend I had, I had been happy there, I should go back there…

17/11/2033 I bought solar panels and now I can recharge the car, it is old but the batteries are new so is the engine, I saw a few vipers as I drove south, they bring both happy and sad memories, I got in a small city and got a job, nothing amazing but it is a life.

02/02/2034 I have been here for two and a half month, I rented a small house, I study in my past time, I had forgotten about this, this journal and all. I like this place, it is nice and quiet, I still can hear them, I can hear them with my radio, the alien frequencies, and it is interesting to hear what they say.

02/03/2034 One month ago I had written in here again, I am going to list things here, I met someone, Julie, she is nice and she also likes languages, she knows the alien language, I met her when I walked back home, I heard a radio and saw her, she also listens to the reports the aliens do, it shows us how they think, I might take her on a date.

02/04/2034 We had a very strange date; we ate a little at a restaurant and spend the evening listening to the radio, we had conversations over what we heard it was nice.

22/04/2034 We are officially dating, everyone sees us as weird but it doesn't matter.

27/06/2034 Chryssalid, that was what we heard, they were being unleashed on the resistance camps. It must be near here, I wonder what that is.

07/07/2034 A farmer's cow was killed today, it had its body torn apart; it looked like it had exploded.

09/10/2034 The town is dead, those things killed everyone, good thing Julie was visiting her parents, I couldn't go I was sick, I left the hospital and went home, I heard screaming and those things appeared, the monsters, the people they killed walked after dead and turned into them, it was horrible, I got what I could and left town.

05/01/2035 I am in her parent's house, I have been here for some time, they are scholars, I talked to them and they like me, I still have nightmares sometimes but they are getting better.

10/04/2035 Julie and I went to the city, we got jobs and are living together, we still watch the stars and listen to the radio together, even with TV, we know ADVENT is not as perfect as it looks and the terrorists acting more now, they seem to be doing things right, if I could do anything I would join them.

01/05/2035 I am on the road now, Julie is somewhere, I don't know where, I had to run, ADVENT is after me, my old phone can't be traced, and I want to live, they discovered me, they don't want me to tell anyone, it must be it, they don't want me to tell anyone what I saw, the attack…I hope Julia is okay.'

That was all that was written, there were drawings and stains in the pages but his last year was in there, I feel sorry for him. I wonder where this Julie is.

The day was ending and I was tinkering with my drone, I heard him move and looked at him, he jumped as he saw me and my gun. He panicked and offered me his money and all.

"Did I change that much Kurt?"I asked him as I looked over myself.

He looked at me confused for a moment and after some time he noticed who I was.

"Will what are you doing here?"He asked.

"Life is weird."I said shrugging."I found you by accident,"

"Where did you get that?"He asked as he stared at my gun, and my gremlin.

"I made one and gained the other."Not a lie.

I keep my occupation secret for now, but we talk for a while, he tells me the things that happened to him as I talk about my college.

"My parents are gone too."I told him.

"They went to the clinics?"He asked.

"Yes, I tried to keep going but I couldn't."I told him.

We become quiet; we both knew they could be dead, except I knew they probably were.

"Sometimes I think back on Martha, she was the only friend I had back then."He said.

"You talked on your journal about wanting to join X-COM, do you want to?'I asked him.

"You read it?"He asked.

"Yes your car looked like it was attacked I wanted to know if I had to do watch out for something."I told him.

He looked angry for a moment but I had a gun so he couldn't do much.

"Yes I wanted to join but there is nothing I can do, I can't fight, I can't code I have no useful skills."He said.

"You are fluent in their language, it is something people in there lack, they have a few people that know but they are usually busy with something."I dropped the bait.

"Come on it is not that…you are with the resistance?"He asked alarmed.

"Yes, Oliver got me in after my parents went missing; I work as a soldier and as an engineer."I told him.

He was in awe.

"And I live in the room next to a viper."I told him.

"What, but I thought they hated aliens."He said.

"They do, I found her half dead on a storage room, we removed the chips in her and she gives us intel, I even got a friend of mine to befriend her, they even hang out when I am not there."I laughed as I remembered how the two became friends.

"Wow, what is her name?"He asked.

"She still didn't choose one."I told him.

I walked to his car and looked at the engine, it needs some repairs but it would work.

"Does Julie have any kind of skill?"I asked.

"She studied biology."He told me.

"If you two join the resistance I am pretty sure you can get a safe place."I told him.

He accepted to join.

By the time the night fell the car was ready, I was on it and we drove towards the setting sun, with sunglasses.

* * *

We stopped in a hotel and sleep, I had my first shower in a long time, Kurt pushed me to the bathroom as soon as we got there, I even washed my clothes and let the drying while I showered, the gremlin hover pads are good to dry things. I bet Shen would be furious at me for using her invention to dry clothes.

I was watching the news for the first time in a while.

"The terrorist attack had several civilian killed and caused a great amount of propriety damage."The women said.

"So you were there?"He asked me.

"Yeah, there were a few witnesses they must be the people they are talking about."They usually are killed.

"They kill people to cover up?"He asked.

"They do worst to people, they don't want people finding out they are losing, and they also don't want some information getting out."I told him.

He nodded and laid on his bed, he is tired I can see that.

"Goodnight."I said as I turned off the TV and without any other thought I slept.

* * *

We got out of the hotel and got in the car, we had food, water and a car.

"So do you have any idea where she might be?"I asked him.

"She has an aunt and uncle not far from here, we could go there."He told me.

He started the car and we drove away, on our way we talked, long conversations like we had before, the future, the present, the past and how things should be.

I had a knife, pocketknife, two pistols, a mag gun with some ammo, a alien metal skull and spine and a gremlin; we were safe from the normal bandits that live around here, as we drove away we thought about what the future would have for us.

* * *

 **Sorry I will try to make longer stories in my chapters, sometimes I don't know how to extend them.**


	7. Chapter 7

**17/05/2035**

Kurt and I were doing well…

"Duck duck duck!"I yelled.

Yep as Oliver would have said peachy or some other fruit.

"We are gonna die!"Kurt yelled.

I looked at the mirror of the car and saw the two troopers, an ADVENT truck had asked us to stop, and I naturally shot the wheels of the truck, it did roll several times but the soldiers were still alive and shooting.

"If it means anything I am sorry about the car."I said as I shot again I heard a grunt and an alien yelling and noticed there was only one gun firing right now.

I was running out of ammo, I dropped the rifle and picked up the pistols I had gotten from the bandits, I put one of them up and pointed towards where I believed the trooper was and shot until the gun ran out of ammo, I heard a grunt but he was still shooting, I threw the pistol towards him and walked towards one of the other ends of the car I noticed he didn't notice I was there.

He took a bullet to the chin since that was the only visible place I could see, I missed the other two shots but still I got him.

I walked towards the corpse and notice it was still twitching, nothing another bullet won't fix.

"You can get up now."I told Kurt.

He got up shaking and looked sick…and threw up in the bushes.

I looked at their gear, got the ammo and batteries they had, I went over the truck, I opened the door and saw something I didn't expect, there were restraints holding a viper but it looked different. Its scales looked less thick, she had different colors from the regular vipers she had more clear colors.

I walked to the seats and looked for a data pad or anything like that, I found one and noticed it was not locked like the ones we get from the battlefield, it must be because they lock them when they believe there will be combat or something.

'Subject displays unusual behavior, probable offspring of the genetic engineered viper species with the manipulated male. 'It said as it displayed the viper, she looked shorter than the ones I usually saw too. 'The projectile weapon found with the subject is primitive but effective and is almost as effective as the standard magnetic weapon; the need to reload makes it inferior.'

I picked up what looked like a crossbow, it looked like an improvised weapon at first but I noticed it was a rather powerful weapon.

"There is a viper there."Kurt said as he looked at the viper.

"Yes there is…"I said.

* * *

Three trackers removed and some quick repairs later I drove the truck while Kurt drove the car, like this we could go safely, I obviously put on one of the troopers armor, the other one was besides me.

We soon parked in the woods and prepared to sleep, I checked on the viper.

"Oh you are awake."I said as I noticed her gaze on me.

She was silent.

I took off my helmet and the jumped in and took a closer look at her, she looked spooked.

"Where did you come from?"I asked.

"I will tell you nothing."She said; her voice looked young not that of an adult yet, she is probably the equivalent of a teenager.

"Well we can't go there yet we have someone else to pick up."I said dismissively, I had no idea what I was doing but it seemed to work she looked confused. "You see, me and Kurt, my friend cooking something are going to the house of his girlfriend's uncle to see if she is there; they are being hunted by the ADVENT because they know too much. And I am trying to find the human resistance."I did something wrong since she tensed at the mention of the resistance.

"Why?"She asked refereeing towards the resistance.

"Well I joined them to find my parents, they are missing and I…think they might have been killed by ADVENT."I said as I noticed she looked less serious and then I heard her stomach growl.

I walked towards her and smiling I released her, I then told her to come with me so we could eat, since I had asked him to make three meals instead of just two.

She looked less mechanical than the usual viper, they usually weren't used to socializing most of times but she was; she was still reserved but not hostile.

"Where are the guards that captured me?"She asked.

"Will took care of them; my ears are still ringing because of the shots."Kurt said.

"Oh, where are we exactly?"She asked.

"We are around the border between the deserts and the urban areas; we are going to a house in the desert."I told her, no reason to hold anything.

She looked surprised as she ate as well; we ate in silence and occasionally looked at each other.

"So, the data pad said you were a natural born viper, I had heard from another viper there were no viper males around and the females are not fertile most of the time."I said.

She looked conflicted but eventually she relented and answered, kind of.

"My parents met as they ran away, my father was created by a human scientist and my mother was escaping ADVENT that is all I can say."She said.

"Okay, well if you want after we get his girlfriend we can take you home, or near it if you don't want us to come near it, then we will look for the resistance, it is the only safe place for him and where I work."I told her; she didn't say anything.

After we ate I got in the car and got ready to sleep, I gave her a blanket and told her she could sleep in the tuck there is enough room for her there Kurt was already sleeping when I got back, I laid down as much as I could in the car and tried to sleep.

"Will."I hear the viper say.

"What do you need, I can get you another blanket."I said as I turned towards her.

"It's not that, I just wanted to tell you my name as we will be traveling together for some time."She said; that made me look at her surprised

 **20/05/2035**

Patricia, Kurt and I were almost there, I was driving the truck he was driving the car, occasionally I we would drive past other ADVENT vehicles but they wouldn't mess with us, neither would the bandits, so we were okay.

"I am pretty sure it is around here."Kurt said through the radio.

"We are driving in circles for hours come on."Patricia or Pat as she told us to call her said annoyed.

"There, she was always talking about a dead tree with a swing."He said as he began driving towards a hill with a tree.

When we got there we notice a house, it must have been a farm a long time ago but now with ADVENT food factories farms became obsolete, we drove towards the house and I was the first to get out and back in again since I got shot in my helmet.

"You aren't taking my niece."A woman yelled as she ejected a bullet out of her shotgun.

Kurt slowly got out of his car and the women aimed at him but didn't shoot.

"You are that boy she was fancying; I can't believe you betrayed her like this."She said as she pointed her gun at the truck, I removed my helmet and threw it out of the car.

"I am not a trooper; I am just wearing their body armor."I yelled as I notice she looked at me still distrustful.

A very muscular man got out as well, he had a machine gun with him and behind him two others came with weapons too.

"You can't fools us, no one can steal one of those trucks, they can find you if you do."The man said.

"You can do it when you remove the trackers, but that is beside the point can you lower your weapons we aren't going to harm any of you."I said behind the bullet proof glass.

A burst of bullets made me remember the glass was just bullet resistant and ducked.

I couldn't shoot them what could I do?

I started getting the armor off my body as I closed my eyes since the glass had broken and was raining down on me by now, I threw out the armor and waited, they stopped firing and I then picked my weapons and threw them out as well, the gremlin was hidden so I just left it there.

They stopped shooting, hopefully because they noticed I had surrendered, or maybe they were reloading?

I took a deep breath and opened the door of the car and got off.

'Please don't shot me, please don't shot me, please don't shot me…'

* * *

Pat was still in the truck, we believed it was best not to get her out near a bunch of dangerous people with guns.

"So you are with the resistance?"The man asked, he was in his fifties and was as intimidating as a man his size could be.

"Yes, an old friend got me in he used to be a soldier before the war."I told him.

Kurt and Julie are happy together, and I was under the aim of five armed adults with varying degrees of overkill available.

"Can you get them somewhere safe?"The women asked.

"I can, after we leave we will look for the resistance."I told them.

"You don't know where it is?"The man asked frowning.

"They blindfolded me when they took me there and the mobile base is always on the move, it could be in another continent, I am trying to find the resistance HQ in this part of the continent."I said as I tried to show no fear.

The group went towards the kitchen to discuss what to do and I could breathe without any fear for a while.

"Sorry about them."Julie said with a small smile.

"It's alright they just nearly killed me twice, and…I better stay quiet."I said as I noticed there is no way I can say that was okay.

They soon came back and the man looked serious.

"We decided we can trust you to take her, it is her best chance, our other relatives said ADVENT was getting in contact with them and searching their houses, they will find her if she stays here, but be warned if anything happens to her we will get you, it doesn't matter where you are is that clear?"He asked, I looked around and saw the same terrifying look in their faces and nodded.

"I will keep her safe."I said as I hoped nothing would go wrong.

* * *

We got ready to leave, they gave us plenty of food four our journey and while they were more friendly towards Kurt they scared me, a lot.

"Be safe Julie."The women said; I could hear them from the truck.

"I will be okay aunty, you stay safe too guys."It was kind of heartwarming seeing the family, I would be more touched if I hadn't almost died.

"So are you okay?"Pat whispered.

"Yes I just almost died twice, now we can get you home while we look for X-COM."I told her.

She smiled but said nothing.

When we got ready for the night a thing I hadn't expected happened.

Julie was hiding in the car, she was afraid of Pat.

"Don't worry Julie, she is a friend, we are just taking her home, she was trapped in the truck when we got it."I said as I opened the door of the car.

I had some experience in making humans and vipers come to terms, by the time we were eating dinner, she was more comfortable with Pat. Then I asked Pat where exactly her home is, she told me to go towards the desert, there is a mountain and in it there is her home, it is like a nest. She said the moment we see human skulls in spikes we will have arrived at the right place. Soon we would be going to a new place, with new dangers and I feel like just crawling back to the ADVENT city and begging to go back to college.

* * *

 **This might be the last chapter for now, I still have three weeks of class, and two of them are of tests but that is beside the point.**

 **Samurai Jack is over…it was good while it lasted.**


	8. Chapter 8

**25/05/2035**

Five days and we got nothing on the resistance; at least we are getting close to Pat's house…

"It can't be worse than them…"I whispered to myself.

The description she gave says it probably is.

"But she is nice, it can't be that bad."I answered my own thought.

"…who are talking to?"Pat asked making me jump.

"Just thinking out loud, so…how is this home of yours?"I asked.

"It is …nice, I have some friends there and there are the scientists that are not very hostile too."She said.

"There are viper scientists?"I asked.

"A few but most of them are human, and most of them are hostile, they teach the older ones because they want to be let go."She said.

…what?

"They are prisoners?"I asked.

"…yes, the thing is they are the team that had created my father and kept him locked away for years in a cell."…What?

"Your father was…of course, there are not male vipers with ADVENT."I can't believe that I haven't pieced it together.

"Yes, he was an experiment of a human scientist; he kept her and her team alive because my mother said it was better to do that than to kill them."She explained.

"So there are other viper males there?"I asked.

"Not yet, just dad but he has the scientists working on it, he and mom got an idea of recreating the viper species, we are just a few but things are going well."She said.

"Wait so he has several mates?"I asked.

"No, he donated genetic material for the scientists to change, they then created embryos and implanted on the other vipers that wanted children, of the only one that was…naturally biologically conceived was me."She blushed a little."And there are also the others."She said.

"Others?"I asked.

Before she could answer a blinding flash of purple appeared and a huge berserker appeared, it slammed its fist in the floor in front of it and that made me stop the car, it was far bigger than the ones I had seen before and had strange machines hooked to it.

Soon its eyes locked with mine and it charged.

"What is g…aunt Vilma?"She said as she looked at that the huge thing, that is a she?

I heard the door of the back open as she opened it, I looked at the mirror I could see Kurt's car and he was scared as well, I saw Pat talking to the Berserker that is called Vilma apparently, she motioned me to leave the vehicle and I really didn't want to do that.

I looked to the mirror but something else was there, a viper slightly more bulky and with white scales and black spikes glaring at me with its purple glowing eyes and I knew no more.

* * *

I woke up in a chair, a metal chair tied I looked around for a moment; the room was barren and then saw the viper again.

"I hear you helped my daughter, but still there are things we need to discuss."He said in a very formal tone of voice.

"Where are Kurt and Julie?"I asked.

He smiled a bit, not an evil smile just a happy one.

"They are fine, they are talking to the others, but I have to ask you did X-COM send you here?"He asked me serious.

"No, I was on a mission and got left behind; I have been trying to find them for a while."I said before I could stop myself.

"Good, the get up."He said.

"But I am tied to the chair."I said.

"No you are not."He said smiling; I looked down and noticed there was not rope…"Psionic vision, it is what I call it, it is basically a controlled hallucination you give someone."He said.

I look around and noticed the room was not that barren, it actually had a lot of people in it like, Vilma, some kind of Archon, Kurt and Julie talking to a viper.

"You alright Kurt?"I asked as I walked towards them.

"It's Martha."He said.

…

The viper he was talking to was waving at me, Pat was besides her and then the white viper joined them…

Her mother is Martha.

…

* * *

After we talked and I got a better grip of the situation I looked around, there were a few vipers around and humans too, I waved at the humans that stared at me and I tried to continue on my way.

"So you see our operation here is meant to give back our species freedom."Gamma, it was as the viper called himself, said."As Kurt and my wife talked before the species the Elders employ are slaves, no culture of their own, and most have no minds, at least while they are under the control of the Elders, after…mom…created me and my siblings I was the only one with a mind, and when I was old enough I escaped, my growth was accelerated by her to study my biology and when I escaped I met Martha, she changed me."He said smiling."I am afraid of what I would have done if she hadn't found me, she basically educated me in what I should do and a few years ago I came back, I arrested the other scientists and mom and gave them a choice, they can try to survive on the desert or work with me, I had Martha and some other vipers we had saved and soon we started the efforts, some of them suggested to have children and I got the scientists to help and my daughter soon followed but…the genes that made me age quickly also did that to her and the others, the scientists are looking for a way to reverse it and prevent it so the children can have a childhood, and then we will try to do the same to the Mutons and Archons."He said.

"Yes I was about to ask, you said you were the only one with a mind but I saw them talking."I asked.

"With psionic stimulation I was able to start their minds, they are sapient now and Vilma and Freddie are my family."He said smiling.

"Not that it isn't amazing but why are you telling me this?"I asked; he turned at me serious.

"I believe it is only a matter of time before X-COM comes here and from what I know they will be coming with guns and wanting to use them."Gamma said.

"You want me to represent you so they won't attack."I asked.

"Yes, some time ago mom made a beacon, she and most of the scientist doesn't like working here so I told them to teach us what they know, when they finish that we will set them free but until then they are staying here."Gamma said."The beacon broadcasted our position and I fear they will attack us to get her."

He stopped in a door, it looked like a cell.

"So you came back Gamma."A voice with a thick accent said.

"Yes mother and I brought company."He said.

"Don't call me that."She said.

"You created me, wanting or not, I brought someone here to see you, to bring some sense into your head and your granddaughter is fine by the way, "He said annoyed as he opened the door.

I saw a woman, she is probably in her late fifties and is wearing a white lab coat, and she has an angry look.

I walked in and waited.

"So who are you? Some form of bandit he got from the desert?"She asked.

"He is an X-COM soldier, but he has some morals unlike you mom! He rescued my daughter."He said.

"You came to rescue me?"She asked.

"No, I was actually looking for X-COM while I brought Pat home; I honestly have no idea who you are."I said.

"I am Moira Vahlen; I was a member of the original X-COM project."Oh, I hear her on passing.

"You were said to be missing, Tygan was your replacement."I said.

"Who is he?"She asked.

"Scientist, cool guy open minded."I said.

"Why are you helping them? They are the enemy."She asked.

"No they are not, they are trying to build a life, what ADVENT is doing to mankind is what the Elders they did to them, they are trying to begin anew."I told her.

"I can't believe they accepted a soldier like you."She huffed.

"I am an engineer, and I was called first to be one, I became a soldier because they needed my expertise."I said.

She glared at me.

"So here is the thing Gamma wanted me to…he was not really specific."I heard him facepalm close to the door.

"Just tell her to try not to expose us for the entire world."He said.

"Yes that."I said.

"I am a prisoner here, can't you see you should be helping me!"She yelled.

"You tried to make them die by alerting X-COM, it makes sense to keep you here, listen it is not that simples it is not us versus them, if mankind wants to live we need to join forces, Gamma is making something amazing here, mankind might be able to beat the Elders on their own but we should join forces with them, the Elders might not be the only ones out there and they might also not be the worst."I told her.

She looked at me and before I could say anything Gamma opened the door.

"Congratulations mom the radar picked up a ship coming our way, it is almost here."Gamma said.

"Should I go outside and wait for them?" I asked.

He asked a human to show me the way while he talked to Vahlen.

"So…you don't look like a scientist."I asked.

"I am not, I was the pilot of the original Skyranger; they called me Big Sky."The man wearing a pilot suit said."You were talking with Moira right?"He asked.

"Yes, she is very stubborn."I said.

"Yeah Moira is like that, it took me a while to see how Gamma's plan would help mankind and I haven't been able to convince her to help."He said.

We soon reached a gate, it opened and I was handed my gun and my gremlin, I could pick up the X-COM signal and the door close behind me.

I waited as I looked around, some alien plants, some skulls in spikes…torches…

Good scare tactic, I am scared even knowing they are not violent.

After a few minutes I saw something moving, I checked the gremlin and it showed the six signals of the operatives.

"I know you people are out there."I said.

Silence.

"Listen there is no need for violence here; it can all be settled with some dialogue."I said.

I heard footsteps and soon I had a sword near my throat, except it was glowing and…

"Bradford is that the new sword for the rangers Shen was working on?"I asked.

"What are you doing here, we thought you were captured."He asked.

"I hid, after faking my death; I have been looking for you people since."I told him, he lowered his sword and something hit me.

"I thought you were dead."Alessandra said as she hugged me.

"Sorry, it was kind of hard to find you guys."I said.

"So I assume you found the signal as well and came here help Vahlen."Bradford said.

"No, I came here to deliver someone I found, it was kind of a coincidence you arrived here too."I said.

"Deliver who."Bradford asked sharply.

"Gamma's daughter."I said.

"The experiment?"He yelled.

"Yes, he is a cool guy don't worry, he sent me up here so you don't try to blow up the place."I said.

It took him and the soldiers some time to process what I had said before they pointed their weapons at me.

"Is this really necessary."I asked.

"He must be controlling him somehow."Bradford said.

They argued for some time about me being mind controlled, Alessandra was just looking at them.

"Was I like that?"She asked.

"Pretty much."I said.

I heard a small pop behind me and looked back seeing Gamma there with Vahlen.

"Here, if you have her can we open dialogue?"He asked making everyone except for me and Alessandra, whose gun I held, aim at him.

"Moira!"Bradford said.

Gamma let her go and she walked towards the soldiers.

"Can we now start a peaceful discussion?"He asked.

"It is six of us against you, you freak."One of the soldiers said; Alessandra stepped towards me and said:

"Just five I am with Will on this one."She said.

Two purple flashes and Vilma and the Freddie appeared.

"If you insist on being violent then I will have to ask my siblings to step in."Gamma said.

The moment was tense.

"Bradford, just accept a peaceful resolution for it."I said.

"Traitor."The soldier that spoke before said.

"Shut up rookie."I yelled at him.

Bradford looked at the others, then at me and finally at Vahlen.

"Fine, everyone put your weapons away."He said.

This turned our better than I had expected, I haven't expected this.

* * *

 **Sudden inspirations is strange, I wrote two chapters today so I decided to upload this one now, kind of inspired by a post on the Xcom reddit.**


	9. Chapter 9

The Commander was discussing things with Gamma on the Avenger; I was again under the probe. At least Kurt and Julie are okay, and going to be sent to the HQ to be trained there.

"I should have expected this."I said as I sat while they probed my mind.

"Stop resisting."One of them said.

"I am not resisting."I said.

My head hurt as I felt him push, several painful minutes passed and he got up.

"He is clean, but his mind is tough, if he is accepted he could be a potential psionic soldier."The scientist said.

When I got out I started talking with Alessandra.

"So how is the Viper?"I asked.

"Natalie is fine."She informed me smiling.

"She chose a name."I said.

"Yes, not too long ago, let's go see her she was sad you were…captured."

The moment I entered her room I was constricted by Natalie's arms.

"I am so happy you are alive."She said.

I hugged her back and pat her in the back.

"I am happy to be back, so you chose a name Natalie."I said.

She smiled and the three of us talked about what happened while I was away. Shen had done a lot of improvement, exo suits and all magnetic weapons were ready, and she was researching plasma now.

Soon I was called to the Commander's room, I entered the room and noticed Gamma there, the Commander told me to sit down.

"I understand you are not under any kind of alien control and have decided to help Gamma and his cause can you explain the reason for it?"The Commander asked.

"His cause seemed fair, he is trying to restore the other races the Advent has conquered, races that were dominated like ours is being now, while it is kind of bad that he has kept the scientists there against their will he didn't mistreat any of them."I said.

The Commander was thinking, looking at me and at Gamma.

"Good, while I think the resistance won't like it I also believe it is the best chance for us to succeed, the Nest will be a new research installation for now, with personal to defense and a Firestorm in order to gather equipment and if needed make operations."The Commander said.

"I am glad we can be allies Commander, I must return to the Nest so the others can be informed."Gamma said as he walked back when he was at a good distance from us he teleported away with his psionic powers.

"It is amazing, he can open psionic portals at will, if that can be taught to our troops one day we will be far more effective."The Commander said smiling."Your interference might have given us a great advantage over ADVENT."Said the Commander.

"Thank you I just did what I thought was best."I said.

I left the room as I was commanded to go back to my old room, I had to go to the memorial to get my things and put them back there and as I took some things out of my backpack I pulled the codex skull…

I immediately ran to Tygan.

"Sorry for interrupting Tygan but I have the skull of the codex here."I said as I entered the lab with the skull in my hand.

"I thought it was lost when we evacuated."He said."It is good to have you back."He said as he took the skull from my hands and I felt something burning the back of my head.

"What is the traitor doing here?"Vahlen asked.

"He is giving us an important artifact, while know you have a negative opinion of him he is a capable scientists as well as a soldier."Tygan said; she huffed again.

"I still refuse to work alongside him."She said.

"I work on engineering not in the labs, but I still help out Tygan sometimes, by the way Tygan we got the Nest as allies, Gamma and the scientists that choose to stay there will be beginning a research facility for us."I told him; Vahlen was in shock.

"That is great news; the cooperation of our species is going to be a good step for a better future."He said.

The angry women just huffed and walked to a lab.

"Did she see Nat yet?"I asked.

"No, I am pretty sure she will want to boot her out of the ship."Tygan said."She won't be able to, she is an assistant here."He said.

"Really? I didn't expect that."I was surprised.

"She is good with technology, and since she can produce venom we can produce better medkits and viper round for all soldiers if they want."He said.

Things are looking good.

"Go see Shen, she will need your help, she is looking over the design of the ships so we can make one of our own."Upon hearing that I said goodbye and ran to the engineering.

"Shen? I heard you are working on spaceships where can I help?"I said as I entered, everyone gawked at me since they probably thought I was dead."Did no one tell you what is going on?"I asked.

"Not much was said so far, good thing you are alive now come here, we need to make a fighter capable of space flight."Shen said as she called me over.

"So how far are we?"I asked.

"We made hybrid systems, mixture of an elerium drive and a conventional engine so we can diminish our spending, we are thinking on working on a nuclear thermal engine, with their alloys and some elerium it is far safer to use them but we still have to research and test it."Shen said.

"Interesting, is it hard to produce?"I asked.

"Not really, but the infrastructure we need and the materials are hard to come by, and we still don't have enough elerium to build a factory and all its components."She said.

"What about weapons, did we get anything new?"I asked.

"We managed to create another tier of weapon, it is a laser, it doesn't need elerium just energy, a small battery can have enough power to hundreds of shots, we sent it to the HQ, it will eventually replace the conventional weapons we use, and it is about as effective as the magnetic weapons."She said.

"I will want to have a look at them later but let's make the fighters."I said; I was happy to be back here, where it is safer.

* * *

 **28/05/2035**

I got back to my old routine, Kurt sent me a message saying they are on training and it is hard but they might get transferred to the Nest, they are happy about that.

The HQ and their flagship have a laser system as weapons as well, they actually were the first to raid an entire factory and escape with most of it, now we have industrial equipment and are looking for a place to hide it and start producing equipment.

We are getting more and more people joining, we captured more UFO's and are working on our own ships, we are not just an annoyance for ADVENT we are now a credible threat.

Yesterday a facility related to the Avatar project was bombed by the Phoenix, setting them back and making it to the news, we are now pirates with stolen ships and that isn't exactly something people like hearing about but still the people that oppose ADVENT are now much more confident in joining.

"Well now we just need to build a prototype then."I said as I looked at the schematics.

"Since we got something to work from we were able to make it faster but I think we can make the first one in a few hours."Shen said.

We looked at the plasma weapon we were working on, since we had the bigger ones from the ships and their schematics we could discover faster how to miniaturize them.

"Half of the staff is making the laser weapons and the other half is fixing the armors we will have to wait."I said.

"Oh, right, why didn't the South American cell finish the factory yet? We can't make weapons for the entire resistance."She grumbled; the HQ, the Avenger and even the Nest were working hard on the equipment for the rest of the resistance, we had enough lasers for everyone inside the Avenger and we are still making more.

We then looked at the screen; we could see the Phoenix flying and the ADVENT symbol making us realize they were the ones recording. The Speaker appeared in the corner and began a speech.

"The terrorist organization known as X-COM has been acting without opposition over the last few months, with several attacks on factories, research facilities and causing several deaths but we don't need to fear them anymore."He said."The Elders acknowledge that they are not just a small fringe group, they are an enemy that is dangerous, and with that they dispatched a fleet to hunt the down and this is going to be the first victory of the fleet."He said.

The image showed the Phoenix firing its weapons at a research facility, it was live, they were sent to another facility recently build and being fired upon but suddenly a beam of light struck it, it focused its weapons above and something that wasn't seen on Earth for years appeared; a battleship.

The Phoenix weapons scared the hull of the battleship, railguns, lasers and plasma cause small explosions but the ship was too small, soon two more beams hit the Phoenix and it fell, upon hitting the ground it exploded and the Battleship with little damaged fired again on the ship.

"The terrorists, no, the enemy will not make us run anymore, we will hunt them and we will win."The Speaker said.

We were shocked, our flagship, our best hope of taking the fight to them was just destroyed with ease.

I looked at the others they all were with their emotion obvious, we are done for.

* * *

 **29/05/2035**

The Avenger has landed, we hid the ship in the mountains and hid it, it would take off when they find a better hiding spot, all the cells were hiding, stopping their operations and lying low, we had flown towards the South American cell so we could assist in the factory, and if we were to bring down the battleship we would need more firepower.

I got inside the factory, it was under construction and very soon it would be done, the engineers from the other bases were all working on the design of new weapons and ships for us, we were going to lay low for a while but we will strike back at them.

"Okay listen up people."Shen yelled; she was in charge of the factory now.

"We might have lost a ship but we still can fight, we have been looking for a way to build our own ships and now we can, we have enough resources to make our own ships, the captured UFO's we captured will be the resources we will use to build our fighters, our new ships, they will outmaneuver our enemy and bring it down, the Lightning transporters will allow us to board the battleship and just like we did before we will claim it, we developed a virus that once it is introduce to their system it will destroy it."She said.

"But what if there are more of them, the speaker said it was a fleet."Someone asked.

"We survived for Twenty years, without ships, or lasers or magnetic weapons we can deal with them, they send that because they are afraid, we could face them head on and we still can, those are the plans for the Firestorm Mark 2, hybrid, and human built fighter, it will have the firepower of a UFO but it will be far faster, using one of the old one we can build four and a half of them, and with the other resources we have in store we can build even more, the lightning transports are even faster, with better shields and with a single plasma beam but still very capable, they knocked us down but we will rise up."She yelled, they all cheered as they looked at the designs of the ships.

"Good speech."I said.

"This was the easy part, the hard part starts now."She said as he she handed me the plans, we would have to reshape the factory, recycle a lot of metal and make small operations to get materials, just like the beginning. We can do it, I am certain of it.

* * *

… **how did I get here…**


	10. Chapter 10

**17/07/2035**

A month and a half hiding, the people on the safe heavens had to flee to our bases so we had many more people working, while they now could defend themselves only more aliens would come and aliens that were not present on Earth anymore returned, like the Cyberdisks and Muton elites.

The Avenger became a training base, the labs there were closed and only a few engineers remained to repair weapons and systems, the scientists like me Tygan, Shen and Vahlen are on The Factory, located underground on the middle of the forest on South America, we the HQ and the Nest were the last bases with labs, all the others were building up numbers and weapons but we were the only ones capable of making ships and vehicles.

Our factory was done after two weeks of hard work, when we weren't working we were working on improving the design but when the factory was ready we began scraping the UFO's and building our fighters, the new Firestorms were tested in a attack on one of the remaining heavens, some chose to make a stand, there was an UFO there and the first prototype Lightning transporter was also sent.

The Firestorm Mark Two had two missile launchers with the new Avalanche Plasma Missile; the warhead is similar to the plasma grenades except it is many times more powerful, two railgun turrets, laser turrets, one single plasma beam turret and two mounted plasma weapons, with the capacity of carrying twelve missiles. It also had magnetic clamps and could haul cargo with its powerful and agile engines.

The engine was a powerful nuclear thermal engine made possible by the alien materials; it is far more effective than anything we could have developed before and is a great boost of speed aside from the elerium drive and an energy field is able to block the radiation.

The Lightning could haul even more weight, it had laser cutters on the bottom along the magnetic and physical clamps with four laser beams meant to cut the hull and open it to the crew to board, the crew could be of eighteen but usually it was the standard six person squad; it had one plasma beam for defense and attack as well.

The ADVENT transports were split in two by the Firestorms and the UFO was boarded by two full squads, after it was turned off and all the trackers were located and removed, it would fuel the factory to build more ships.

The five Lightings we build were sent to the graveyards left by ADVENT, while the components and elerium was removed the metal remained, the old UFO's and battleships that were down were cut down and transported back, they fuelled the factory as well.

Laser weapons of all sizes were made and some were sending to the few safe heavens that were safely hidden and even were able to down some UFO's but the Battleship was able to destroy those places.

"The prototype for the plasma cannon was successfully tested in the Nest, it was able to hit a UFO from a distance of fifty kilometers, and they are working on a bigger version for the project."I informed Shen.

She was working herself to death almost, she probably hadn't slept for about two days, I tried to get her to sleep but she has the habit of working until she faints, then I ask someone to help me take her to her room and let her there until she wakes up, she usually berates me for it but I still do it.

"Good, we have ten Firestorms operational and five Lightings, and our resources are dwindling, we need to make more ships if we want to have a chance."Shen said.

"Bradford proposed an operation against one of the factories, it is the source of raw material from them, and with the Lightnings we can haul a lot of material from them and even the refineries."I informed.

She let out a sigh, looked over at the computer in front of her and typed.

I looked over and saw the plans.

"Someone from the observatory in Asia sent us this."I told her as I showed the image.

"What is that?"She asked.

"It seems to be a space station near the sun."I said.

The small blip was somethings strange.

"Why are you showing me this?"She asked tired.

"The position it is on is the same direction the cargo ships come from, the ones bringing elerium and always escorted by the Battleship and several UFO's."I let it sink in her tired mind, after a minute she jumped.

"They make elerium there!"She yelled.

"We believe that might be it, I talked to Tygan he said it was a secret from where the alloys and elerium came from but if that place is where the elerium come from, we might become self sufficient if we go there."I told her.

"How big is the station?"She asked.

"Around four hundred meters across by the estimations, we believe it can be reached with our ships."We made them to be space faring since the alien ships could do that as well.

She went silent and then got up.

"Get me a coffee and we can get Tygan, we will propose it to the council."She ordered me.

* * *

After three mugs of coffee she was far more awake than before, we were together and seeing the three screens, the Commander and the Avenger were hidden somewhere else now, Gamma is representing the Nest Base, now far more important now, manufacturing equipment and training soldiers and the HQ commander was also there.

"I understand you propose an extra planetary operation on a space station near the sun, why should we waste resources in that?"Gamma asked.

"The station is where we believe the elerium is produced; if we are able to take over it and get the equipment we might be able to produce our own elerium."Shen said with a stoic expression.

"It seems too risky to risk all of our fleet on that move, what if it is a trap."The Commander asked.

"The location it is located is the same direction the cargo ships with elerium come from, we believe they use solar power to manufacture the elerium and the battleship and several UFO's escort it every month, since the travel takes days we propose an attack being made while the Battleship is halfway towards Earth."Shen said.

"Even then it would take days for our ships to reach the station."Gamma said.

"Not if we use the Phoenix's FTL drive, it was removed to fit an extra generator and we can use it to make a transport that can take us there in seconds."Shen said.

The commanders of the biggest resistance bases turned off the screen to discuss the proposal.

"Do you think they will agree?"Tygan asked.

"Oh you speak, I didn't realize that."Shen said angry.

"I am a biochemist not an engineer, I said your idea is good but I can't say anything for sure it is not my area of expertise."He defended himself."Why didn't you call Moira, she has some experience with engineering."He asked.

"She is too busy working on the gene therapy for the aliens, Commander's orders, besides she doesn't like us, she sees Will as a traitor."Shen said; Moira is not an easy person to deal with.

"Yes she is a difficult person; she wanted to forbid Natalie from entering the lab because she is a viper."Tygan agreed.

The screen lightened up and the three appeared again.

"We decided to allow this operation; we will send specific troops to help you."The Commander said."I will send three psionic squads, two specialist squads and one snipers squad."The Commander spoke smiling.

"The Nest will send The Archon squad and two viper squads."Gamma said.

"The HQ will send weapon platforms and combat mechs, we will also send you the new generation of lasers we have finished, and three ranger squads we have here."HQ Commander said.

We were surprised, but of course even with all that we might not be able to take over the station, it could have hundreds of aliens inside.

"We-we will begin the work on the FTL drive and prepare for the operation, thank you for your help."

* * *

 **Elders**

Under the ocean the Elders discussed their moves.

"The human resistance is diminishing its attacks but we fear they might try something, reports of new crafts attacking our transports and harvesting the graveyards are scarce but they exist."An Ethereal said.

"It is not something new, other species fought back fiercely against us, compared to the Archons and their downfall the human actions are not nearly as radical."Said another.

"Indeed."They all agreed.

A new presence appeared in their psionic meeting.

"My brothers, the advances of the new Viper planet are remarkable, similar to the human advances, and the rate of psionic awakening in their population is greater."The Ethereal reported.

"Good, we might be able to follow the others as it is, our failure can be corrected."The Leader said.

"The new Commander of our forces is being surprisingly successful; the captured rebel is brutal in his attacks."The Ethereal said.

"Restrain him if he uses too much violence, we need to drive them to their limit, to make them unlock their potential, it might be a faster way for our ascension since our research facilities on Earth were irreparably damaged and the research was set back by decades."The Leader instructed.

"Understood, I will restrain him."Was the response of the Ethereal. "There was however a development, the vipers discovered how to manufacture our alloys, they have downed one of the repair ships and discovered how to synthesize it."

"An unexpected situation, but again it was not new, the Mutons and Sectoids were able to accomplish that as well."The Leader said.

The presence disappeared as it had nothing else to inform.

"Have we got any improvement on the research?"The Leader asked.

"The Cyber Hive has come up with new form of shield, energy weapon and Elerium harvesting technique."Said an Ethereal.

"Is their rebellious faction still active?"The Leader asked.

"They fled the fleet, we believe they came in contact with other survivors, they call themselves the Neo Cyrbus, capable of using a FTL drive they are now in uncharted space."The Leader's anger flooded their communication.

"You will command the fleet to chart the area and find them; their interference might be enough to tip the balance of any of the planets fighting us."He commanded.

"I will do as you wish my master."The Ethereal said.

One last presence faintly appeared unexpectedly, it flooded the connection with pain and fear.

"Their fleet was too much, our outpost is no more, I am on the last ship fleeing to the fortress; they are dangerous."The injured Ethereal said.

"That is not supposed to be possible; the probe told us they were primitive in technology and incapable of space flight."Said the Leader.

"They were assisted by survivors of the Sectoid race, while their ships are not powerful they have overwhelming numbers and if they can expand they will be able to face us."The Ethereal informed.

"We will divert more advanced battleships to your location, they must be crushed."Said the Leader.

The presence disappeared, lost conscience.

"That is an unexpected development; we must hunt down the survivors of the races that escaped."Added the Leader

They all agreed.

The leader was the only one remaining when a screen behind him lightened up.

"The Alliance has heard of your incursions on underdeveloped planets, they violate the laws of the Galactic Treaty."Said an alien.

"I see; however I am correct to assume you have intercepted the message."The Ethereal said.

"I have, for a price; I understand you and your divine quest makes you gather a considerable amount of technologies, my emperor is looking for certain technologies."The alien said.

"Yes the king, I have recently came across new shield technologies, twice as effective as anything the Alliance has and energy weapons three times as powerful."The Ethereal said.

"It seems like a fair price, as per our agreement, we will not interfere in your experiments as long as you help us."The alien said.

"Your conquest will be fast I can see such a powerful and promising race, I will send a transport with the schematics to the usual spot."The Ethereal said.

"Nice doing business with you. "The Alien said as he terminated the call.

'Pathetic worm, barely any psionic resistance, physically weak and with a natural death wish, even with this weapons they will fail; pathetic insects, the Chrysalids have a better chance of taking over the galaxy.' The Elder thought to himself as he arranged for the transport with the old technologies to be sent.

* * *

 **Well classes are over for now, I just need to brace for the impact of the grades I guess.**


	11. Chapter 11

**20/07/2035**

We were working on the FTL docking mechanism, ten Firestorms and five Lightnings will dock and jump in it, if we mess up we might lose them.

"Alright, so we will need a shield that encompasses the other ship's shields."I said.

"Yes, it will be hard but not impossible."Shen said.

"We have some time until we begin the operation."The battleship was arriving at the station today; we need to make a skeleton ship with the drive operational in it.

"I still can't believe they gave us that many soldiers, that is more than half of the resistance."She said.

"And they got us the psionic soldiers as well; I thought they would be a secret weapon for when we take down the battleship."I said as I removed some layers of the design of the ship.

I added engines, and the inertial dampeners that kept the passengers from getting turned into mush. It looked like ribs…the ships dock and it flies away, no weapons just the engines and the drive along with the generator.

"You think we should add weapons to it?"I asked.

"It would be dead weight."She denied.

I looked at the design of the drive, we still didn't know exactly how that worked; we just had the manual to use it, some people had theories but nothing definitive.

"We will burn a lot of elerium with the jumps."We had very little of it right now.

"Yes but if that place is a factory or at least a storage we will have as many as we want."She told me."Don't give up now; the hard part will be the assault."She told me.

"Yes, we will need to use lasers, if we get the mags we will end up breaching the hull."That would be bad, not immediately but that could kill us.

We worked more on the design and then got up, we went to the assembly lines and looked at the machines, the machines were advanced, could build the components of a laser rifle in a few hours and assemble one in a few minutes, but right now they were making the main reactor and the hull of the ship, we did the best we could.

"How long until it is done."Shen asked the worker operating the machines.

"About…thirty hours, give or take."The African man said.

We had people from all over the world here, for some it was the first time meeting some ethnicities, for the locals it was just more of the same.

"Ei Shen vem aqui."(Hey Shen come here) a man yelled from downstairs.

"I told you Roberto, I don't speak that language."She complained, even technically knowing two languages she was slow to learn other languages, the alien language was remarkably difficult for most people who only spoke one and she usually complained that she already forgot most of her mother language since she lived in America since she was eight.

"Just come here already."The tan yelled.

Roberto was a interesting man, he was the previous leader of the Brazilian resistance, while they had few people in there they had many resources, weapons and vehicles from before the war, they came from the black market and were lost as ADVENT hunted the owners down, he knew about them and stole them, taking them and hiding them away.

"We got word from a special shipping coming from space, the people in the long range sensors calculated the ship will touch down near the coast, and best of all it was considered so important they didn't wait for the battleship to protect it."He smiled.

"What could be so important that they would risk losing it just so they can have it faster?"The Battleship is slow.

Vahlen appeared in the room and answered our question.

"I believe it is another shipment of the embryos I used to create Gamma and the other."She said.

"Then we should try capturing it, I will tell the workers to bolt the EMP gun then."Roberto said; he knew us well enough so he could guess accurately what we would be doing.

"Do that, install the EMP and get it ready to fly, standard operation."She commanded.

"With who? The troops aren't due until the mission and all the others and in the infirmary."The last operations had heavy causalities and we still had very few soldier.

"I can count three soldiers in this room."Shen said looking at me and Roberto.

Right…

* * *

The three of us were carrying the laser rifles and other several weapons, I had six grenades, usually against the rules but I was the third in command, I could have it.

"Do you really need that many grenades?"Shen asked.

"We need to make up for the lack of soldiers; I would have taken the laser cannon prototype if I could lift that."I said.

"You need to lift some things, I remember when I was like you, had difficulties lifting an AK, now look at this."Roberto brandished his heavy laser; he was not a bodybuilder but you could see he had muscles.

We were getting near the place, we hear the UFO dropped like a stone thanks to the EMP and had no weapons, we were touching down soon.

The Lightning hovered above the down UFO and we jumped on it, there were no aliens outside, but the readings told us there were twelve enemies.

I sent my gremlin to take a look, twelve mechs in the ship; three in the entrance.

I grabbed my EMP grenade and tossed it towards a group of them; while the three mechs were stunned Roberto and Shen got down and mowed them down before going for cover.

Soon two of the mechs moved towards the entrance we were making our attack, I threw another grenade but this time it was something else, the entrance was taken over by ice and the mechs were incapable of moving, I fired my laser rifle and melt the head of one and soon Roberto and Shen followed my suit and fired as well.

Soon the two mechs were down.

"Not bad, not bad at all."Roberto said as he looked at the mechs.

"There are still seven in there."I said as I pointed my gun at the hallway.

We slowly continued, the UFO was larger than the usual, the Lightning could still lift it but we had to be fast to disable it completely.

We walked together shoulder by shoulder as we explored the UFO, it was half the size of the Phoenix, but less bulky, we found one of the mechs trying to repair something, it wasn't on combat mode, must be a residual effect of the EMP that took down the ship.

I sent my gremlin again and looked in my tablet; it looked the images from the camera, in a few minutes the gremlin found another group of mechs, since we wanted the ship intact I couldn't use the other grenades I had with me.

I pulled a knife from my belt and threw it on floor, one of the mechs walked into our aim to inspect it and as soon as its head appeared we cut the head off with our lasers, we heard the thumping sound of their steps as they came near us and we retreated to the shadows, we waited the mech to turn its back on us to blow a hole in it.

Soon we had cleared most of the mechs, only two remained, we approached the cargo area and opened the door, since we were not idiots we opened it while hidden behind the walls out of view, the bullets fired from the mechs didn't hit any of us.

We then opened fire, the first volley we shot damaged one of them and we had to duck for cover before more damage was inflicted, we had to jump when we noticed they stopped shooting bullets at us and shot a rocket, we almost didn't escape the explosion but soon I turned and turned my gun to the door but the mech didn't come, they were learning.

"I don't think they will leave, we will have to go in."I said.

We charged and were nearly shot but we were able to shoot the mechs before we died, it was a calculated risk, I got shot in the shoulder, and Roberto was hit on the thigh, Shen was the only one that was not shot.

"Shen here, we cleared the UFO, and will begin removing the trackers and turning it off."She said as she left us and went to the bridge.

"We are fine thank you for asking."Roberto said as he used a medkit on his thigh.

I walked around and looked at the storage area, there were several boxes with alien markings, I looked at them and noticed something, there was a pod, it was big and it looked bolted down, I tried to look around but found nothing, not writing son this one.

I felt a cold and numbing sensation on my shoulder and noticed Roberto was applying the medkit on my shoulder.

"Thanks."I said as I looked at my clothes, the armor we were wearing would prevent most of the damage but the rounds of the mechs would still pierce it, I noticed the trail of blood coming down from the bullet hole.

"What you think that is?"He asked.

"I have no idea; it is big enough to fit a muton body inside."I said as I tried to open it but it seemed to have no access panel visible.

I passed my hand around it looking for something and found nothing.

"Maybe you need to activate it with the computer."Roberto said pointing at a terminal.

I noticed the pod was connected to the floor, I can't believed I haven't noticed that before, I connected my tablet to the terminal and began deactivating systems, I could notice Shen doing the same and soon I had disconnected the pod, soon a hiss alerted me to it opening, inside there was one of the stasis pods and inside there was something I haven't expected.

"Is that a red viper?"Roberto asked.

"I looks like it."I said surprised.

"This is Shen I have disabled the last of the systems, I will turn the engines off now."She said.

Not five seconds passed and the lights went off, I looked at the pod and turned on the gremlin flashlight, I noticed it was still working.

"Roberto, Will we are on the move."She said, I nodded and Roberto and I looked around.

* * *

Upon closer inspection of the tube back on the base I noticed the viper was not female, it was in fact male, but it had less spikes than Gamma and the data Tygan got from him showed far less psionic power.

"Is that a natural male?"I wondered.

"The DNA seems to indicate that, there are genes that look natural, not tampered, the vipers from ADVENT don't look like that; this Viper is around thirty years old and was born naturally."Tygan said."Did you translate the files?"He asked me.

"Not entirely but what I got was that this is a captured in another planet."I was kind of guessing."I think it is the same planet we got info about, the one of vipers."I said.

"That is interesting but why would they bring him here?"Tygan asked.

"Maybe they didn't have the facilities needed to analyze him, they were starting an incursion at that time and they might have only brought weapon hardware."The aliens did only bring what they needed so-

The eyes of the viper opened inside the isolation chamber, he got up and tried to escape, he was panicked it was obvious and he looked at us scared and I heard him muttering.

" _I am dead, I am dead, I am dead_."He repeated, some other things were there too but the alien language was different, I looked at him and wondered why he is speaking that language.

"I think he is a civilian, he is muttering about being abducted and he thinks he is going to die, call the HQ and bring in Kurt, he has a better chance of understanding what he says, call Gamma too, he will want to know as much as he wants about this."I said as I looked at the terrified viper.

* * *

 **I decided to post this chapter just to get it out there, the story will be discontinued for a while, I am not happy with the quality of this story and I will rewrite it in the future, to everyone that enjoyed the story I thank you for reading it, bye.**


End file.
